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Published: February 17th 2011
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What a great day! Aloha Mallorca States of America.
The morning started off 'as usual' with doughnuts from a local store at the balcony here at level 15 with views of Waikiki and the Honolulu skyline. Erik went to pick up the ordered Cabriolet which then turned out to be a brand new Jeep where the roof could removed – to the great joy of the children.
Yesterday was great at Waikiki beach – a pleasant surprise. Not too crowded, no (almost) reclining chairs, no topless women, mostly elderly people enjoying reading a book at the beach, a few families like us with children who could swim in the shallow water, surfers further out waiting for the right wave, a pleasant temperature (25 degrees), no hawkers. All in all I was surprised how nice and quiet it felt. It was just a block from our hotel.
So today’s trip was the east coast. Somewhat cloudy, but a very pleasant temperature. Several scenic overlooks and stops on the way – but the O’ahu island is not that big, so the distances are small. We stopped at the eastern most point, Makapuu, where a 1½ km trail wound around the mountain top to
a lookout on top of the steep cliffs towards the east coast and a light house. A fantastic view from here – a very popular trail for women with children in strollers. One mom did it 3 times a week running all the way up – with two children. Our children had to be decoyed with candy, dragged and threatened – at least there was no complaining going back. It was also supposed to be a good place to see humpback whales – and guess what – after being pointed in the right direction, we could see them. Water being blown up by two whales many times, their head, tail and finns – Birgitte’s highlight of the day. They were not close, but they were there. After lunch we went to another popular place, Hanauma Bay – a small volcanic crater opened up by the sea, so a good place to snorkel. And this 1 million (!) people do every year. But again a pleasant surprise – well taken care of, carefully cleaned and you have to watch a 15 minute video to enter. It was now about 14, so it was quiet and not crowded. Erik and Johanne did
the first snorkeling tour, and it was the first time Johanne did her own snorkeling – first we saw many fish at the reef, and then a beautiful sea turtle. It was Erik and Johannes highlight of the day. Anders saw fish and was also thrilled. The corals were not good and were all bleak and rocklike. All this will probably be much better on the following islands with fewer than a million tourists. But I must say Hawaii is a good place. Extremely beautiful, and though it is easily recognized as USA when we are here, the nature is not like any other parts of the US. OK, that is probably superfluous to write. Returning to Honolulu, we crossed the mountain range on route 61 with the 'famous' Pali lookout. OK, it was a good view, and on the LP top 20 Hawaii lookout spots – but I would go for the Makapuu Point if I had to choose.
Read the full story and see more pictures on my homepage version:
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Michael
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"jeg vil også til Hawaii" Joanna 6 år
Kære alle 4 Vi ser jeres fine billeder og læser historien. Det lyder som en god tur. Alt OK på Fasanvej. De bedste hilsene De Fem i nr. 10